Is Sainsbury's Southern Fried Chicken Pasta ultra-processed?

Prepared salads Sold in the United Kingdom

Yes, it's ultra-processed

1 Unprocessed
2 Kitchen staple
3 Processed
4 Ultra-processed

Signs of ultra-processing in its ingredients:

Colour
Gluten
Thickener
E160c Paprika extract
E440 Pectins

55 ingredients
2 additives
Nutri-Score A

Less processed prepared salads

Less processed isn't automatically healthier, so compare the labels for what matters to you, such as sugar or salt.

Ingredients

Ultra-processing Processing signs are highlighted

Cooked Pasta (Durum Wheat Semolina, Water, Rapeseed Oil), Mayonnaise Dressing (Water, Rapeseed Oil, 9 Cornflour, Spirit Vinegar, Chives, Pasteurised Egg Yolk, Dehydrated Onion, Sugar (processing marker), Smoked Paprika, Salt (processing marker), White Wine Vinegar, Concentrated Lemon Juice, Mustard Seeds, Thickener (ultra-processing marker) (Pectin (ultra-processing marker))), Southern Fried Chicken Goujons 10% (Chicken Breast, Fortified Wheat Flour (Wheat Flour, Calcium Carbonate, Iron, Nicotinamide, Thiamin), Rapeseed Oil, Water, Wheat Starch (processing marker), Salt (processing marker), Rice Flour, Wheat Gluten (ultra-processing marker), Cornflour, Sugar (processing marker), Yeast Extract, Spirit Vinegar, Onion, Garlic, Fennel, Black Pepper, Colour (ultra-processing marker) (Paprika Extract (ultra-processing marker)), Turmeric, Yeast, Nutmeg, White Pepper, Lemon Juice 8 Powder, Thyme, Cumin, Black Pepper Extract), 13 Sweetcorn 6%, Tomatoes 5%, Red Onions

Additives: E160c Paprika extract , E440 Pectins

As written on the pack

Cooked Pasta (Durum Wheat Semolina, Water, Rapeseed Oil), Mayonnaise Dressing (Water, Rapeseed Oil, 300g 9 Cornflour, Spirit Vinegar, Chives, Pasteurised Egg Yolk, Dehydrated Onion, Sugar, Smoked Paprika, Salt, White Wine Vinegar, Concentrated Lemon Juice, Mustard Seeds, Thickener: Pectin), Southern Fried Chicken Goujons (10%) (Chicken Breast, Fortified Wheat Flour (Wheat Flour, Calcium Carbonate, Iron, Nicotinamide, Thiamin), Rapeseed Oil, Water, Wheat Starch, Salt, Rice Flour, Wheat Gluten, Cornflour, Sugar, Yeast Extract, Spirit Vinegar Powder, Onion Powder, Garlic Powder, Fennel, Black Pepper, Colour: Paprika Extract; Turmeric, Yeast, Nutmeg, White Pepper, Lemon Juice 8 Powder, Thyme Extract, Cumin Extract, Black Pepper Extract), 13 Sweetcorn (6%), Tomatoes (5%), Red Onions.

What makes it ultra-processed

Cosmetic additives

Added to change how the food looks, feels or tastes, not to keep it safe. A hallmark of ultra-processed food.

E160c Paprika extract Paprika extract is a red-orange colour extracted from paprika peppers.
E440 Pectins Pectins are gelling agents extracted from citrus peel or apple pomace.
Colour Colours are added to restore colour lost in processing or to make a product look more appealing.
Thickener Thickeners, often gums or modified starches, make liquids more viscous so that a product feels richer than its ingredients alone would make it.

Substances rarely used in home kitchens

Refined or extracted in factories, such as syrups made from starch or isolated proteins. The other hallmark of ultra-processed food.

Gluten Wheat gluten, sold as "vital wheat gluten", is the protein washed out of wheat flour.

4 ingredients that would only make it processed

Kitchen staples like sugar, salt and oil. On their own they make a food processed, not ultra-processed.

Meals Products in the category "Meals" are at least group 3.
Salt Salt, added for taste and preservation.
Starch Starch extracted from cereals or potatoes, used to thicken.
Sugar Sugar refined from sugar cane or beet.

How the NOVA groups work

Among 224 prepared salads

From least to most processed, this one ranks 199th. 60% of the prepared salads here are ultra-processed.

Ranked by NOVA group, then by the number of ultra-processing signs, additives and ingredients. Our ordering, not part of NOVA.

All 224 prepared salads, least processed first

About this information

Data from this product on Open Food Facts (barcode 00418768, last edited 1 April 2026), available under the Open Database License. If something is wrong or the recipe has changed, you can correct it there.
Photo: Open Food Facts contributors, CC BY-SA 3.0.
The NOVA group is an automated estimate from crowdsourced data: a missing or mistyped ingredient can change it.
NOVA measures processing, not nutrition. For nutrition, Open Food Facts gives this product a Nutri-Score of A (from A, best, to E).
General information, not medical or dietary advice. Check the pack if you have an allergy.